Quinton Coples has had to play more than the Jets originally planned due to injuries on defensive line.John O'Boyle/The Star-Ledger

This was not the way the Jets had planned Quinton Coples' rookie season would go. They had hoped to ease him in on the defensive line, using him in a rotation to ease the burden. Instead, with injuries to Sione Po'uha and Kenrick Ellis, they have to move players around. So, in New England, Coples played 70 snaps -- the fourth most of any defensive linemen in the NFL this past weekend.

But that's not necessarily a sign of faith in Coples by the Jets, just necessity.

Pettine said the Jets originally intended for Coples to play half to two-thirds of the snaps, using him on the majority of third downs before sliding him in gradually on first and second down.

"This wasn’t the ideal plan for Quinton," Pettine said.

"But with the injuries we’ve had, where we’ve had to move DeVito inside, we had to move (Muhammad Wilkerson) inside, which basically put Q on the field...But he’s responded. I think he’s playing well. Still, the consistency level, just gotta get that raised up. I think the number of reps hurts that. It’s a lot easier to be consistent when you’re only playing 50 snaps as opposed to 70 as a rookie."

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The injury to Eric Smith has also caused issues for the Jets' defense. They had hoped to use Smith to give a spell to Yeremiah Bell and to use more three-safety looks. But it was never to give LaRon Landry a break.

The intention was always to give Landry a large majority of snaps. When the Jets wanted to roll players in, Landry became upset earlier this season. With his snaps limited in practice, it's left the safety healthier and able to play more in games.

"I think Eric would have helped with Yeremiah some as far as letting Landry stay on the field and alternating those other two," Pettine said. "We also had plans to play a decent amount of three safety packages. Which we’ve done some, Bush has been in there some and fortunately Antonio Allen. So we’re looking forward to getting Eric back and those packages ramped up."